Archive for September, 2007

The Big Draw kicks off tomorrow with a mission to show that drawing is “enjoyable, liberating and at everyone’s fingertips”.

This is conveniently timed as I’m on a mission to spend more of my time drawing at work (part of a larger mission to spend less time with my computer). Step one was completed when I moved to my (huge) new desk and decided to keep it pretty much clear, bar the computer and an A3 sketch pad. Admittedly a lot of what gets scribbled on the pad is phone numbers and to-do lists but it has seen a fair bit of drawing too. It has been on a few trips to the cafe downstairs too. I tried taking it to a couple of meetings but that felt plain odd. So I also need to replaced my ruled notepad that goes to meetings with a smaller sketch pad. I never stick to the rules so the latter is pretty pointless.

Recently at work I received a survey request from a member of our HR team. She is studying for a further degree and was collecting data for her dissertation on organisational psychology.

At its heart the survey was evaluating what I though the values of the BBC were and how well this matched my own. Her hypothesis was that the closer the fit between my values and how I perceived the BBC’s values then the more likely I would be to be satisfied with my work and actively commited to it. I would be less likely to be intending to find a new job.

It was an interesting task given that the BBC has a clearly articulated set of values:

Trust is the foundation of the BBC: we are independent, impartial and honest.

Audiences are at the heart of everything we do.

We take pride in delivering quality and value for money.

Creativity is the lifeblood of our organisation.

We respect each other and celebrate our diversity so that everyone can give their best.

The values are on our diaries, our ID cards and displayed 10ft tall in the entrance to the Media Centre. When they were first announced years ago I was skeptical of their usefulness as they seemed to boil down to the staff being told to ‘be good’. Uncontroversial but hardly profound.

Reflecting on this now I realise that ‘be good’ has two meanings and they pretty much sum up how I see the BBC’s values: making high quality products and programmes whilst playing nicely.